Branche: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Process modeling represents a challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises. In most cases, the added value is not recognized and is therefore rarely used. This article shows the potential of process modeling in order picking processes. The focus is on the documentation of the processes as well as their execution. Deficits in companies are pointed out and clarified, how the process modeling can solve these. Above all in the management of different process variants adaptive process modeling can show advantages. The resulting adaptive process models form the basis for making processes executable.

The topic Internet of Things (IoT) is omnipresent and has already found its way into many living rooms under the term Smart Home [1]. Be it lamps, heaters or the television set - everything is interconnected and easy to control from anywhere. The corresponding counterpart in manufacturing is Industry 4.0, sometimes named the Industrial Internet of Things. Companies and research institutions are working intensively on the possibilities offered by the so-called fourth industrial revolution. The forward-looking positioning of the German economy in international competition requires that the development and distribution of concepts and solutions in the context of Industry 4.0 be actively shaped by the industry itself and thereby to play a pioneering role in innovation [2]. Due to the rapid pace of development, it is essential for German companies to identify, develop and adapt new methods and technologies at an early stage and to transform them into marketable solutions.

Small and medium enterprises (SME) in Germany are in a good mood. More than 90 % of the SMEs are in an appropriate economic situation reports the Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft (BVMW). About 38 % of these companies expect a higher turnover in 2014 [1]. But there is one real problem the companies are faced with: the lack of skilled labour.

The global players of the aviation industry are shifting a growing shares of their value added to their subcontracters. New subcontractors must do considerable expenses to get accustomed to the special quality and security requirements of the aviation industry. This can be done as an EASA approved production organisation or as an extended workbench. The decision orientates itself at the specific activities required.

Although medium sized enterprises ascribe high importance to knowledge management and its impact on company’s success, they have rarely undertaken steps to introduce respective methods. Only a small share of companies applies selected methods, usually rather sporadic and without connection to corporate strategy or other management techniques. The reason lies in the lack of a tool for choosing the most suitable methods. Out of the multitude of instruments available for knowledge management, it is difficult to decide about a method mix fitting best to respective business processes, initial situation and specific demands of the company. This paper presents a concept to manage these shortcomings.